Sunday, July 27, 2008

So with the kid's first birthday this weekend, there was no racing for me. I did have a chance to sneak down to Hardcore Raceway (www.hardcoreracersrc.ca) who was hosting round 4 of the G.L.O.R.C. Series race to check out the qualifying action for a bit though on Saturday. I love that track. It is so well built and run. Really a pro operation. They layout looked really fun and makes me want to give Nitro a try..lol. Anyways, here are a few pics and videos I took from there.Really nice set up, nice dirt, excellent construction, sprinkler system, elevated announcers booth, tons of space.A little burst shotSprucewood/Losi Team were all doing well out there as usualThe TripleSprucewood/Losi Team driver Abyie Birku was away but let Fastcats TC driver (and slowly turning to off road) J.B. Catricala use his Losi 8ight to try out Nitro Off Road. JB was looking good out there for his first time racing Nitro Buggy.Kyosho represent! Infernos Only dot com roosting through "Kyosho Korner"Backside double actionJohn Catricala from Fastcats was also on hand to do some guest announcing for the race. John is one of the best when it comes to calling the races. Here John (R) and Hardcore's Jay(L) check out some action.Cross over JumpSome speedy pit work to get a flamed out car back on track

Monday, July 14, 2008

So after Saturday's practice was a write off (we were just finishing grooming the track and about to get our cars out there when a lone rain cloud DUMPED on us for about 10 minutes then went away but saturated the track) we all showed up Sunday morning to another wet track. We didn't get as much rain as predicted but the Sid's crew (and volunteers) still had to fix a bunch of wet spots so that we could get running. Mother Nature just has it in for us come race day. Some good news though as the sun finally broke out and the track just kept getting faster and actually started to groove up a bit. Tire choices changes for each round of qualifying and left some scrambling to get the "hot" tire to use in each round. We had racers from all over Ontario, Quebec and New York as well as some Factory racers from Kyosho, Orion and Tamiya so the racing action was going to be tight!

Qualifying

2wd OpenThe track (or beach if you will) had lots of moisture and some sandy spots and the tires of choice were Bowties, Goosebumps and IFMAR pins for the first round and as the sun and wind started to dry the track out everyone was switching to Holeshots, Double Dee's and even Panther Switches. The usual suspects were laying down some hot laps and the times got faster every round. I swept all three rounds of qualifying and after the dust settled a near perfect run for me with the RB5 in Round 3 (one bobble) landed me in the TQ spot. I was the only driver to squeeze out a 13 lap run in 2wd (beat my 4wd qualifying time and would have landed 4th in the 4wd A Main with it). Chet Kelsey was in second, US driver Justin Williams in 3rd, Mike Grmek in 4th and Steve Mostacci rounding out the top 5.

Truck OpenThe truck class has gotten quite competitive as of late and there were many people in the hunt for the TQ. Sid's Raceway founder Sean Hurley drove his Losi truck into the TQ position, RichardCalistan showed his driving skill to nab second, class favorite Jay Lovegrove slid into 3rd and US driver Anthony Muscato 4th and Dave Mandlrounding out the top 5.

4WD OpenOnce again tire choice was switching every round from the bigger pins in the morning to smaller pins in the afternoon. The competition was crazy and the TQ changed every round! I had it first round, Chet took it second round and Steve showed us he is the man in 4wd by taking it in the third round. I don't know what happened to me as the Lazer SP was driving pretty good but I kept making small mistakes and couldn't get my head in the game and offer a challenge in round 2 and 3. The racing in 4wd was crazy fast and tight! You couldn't get away with any mistakes. So after 3 rounds, Steve Mostacci sit on the TQ spot with Tamiya TRF driver Corey Whiteman in second, Chet Kelsey in third, Gino D''Amario in 4th, Mike Grmek rounding out the top 5 (I was in 6th...uhg...maybe I should have raced my RB5 in the 4wd class?)

Triple A Mains

2wd Open

A1At the tone we all rocketed out but a third corner crash piled up 3rd place on and let myself and Chet stretch out a bit. Justin Williams was down to 5th or 6th and Mike, Steve and 9th place JB Catricala all moved up. About halfway through the race I made a big bobble going off the table before the straight. One of the worst places to crash as marshals can't see your car back there. 8 seconds later I was back on but the damage was done, Chet easily took over the lead with Steve and Mike in tow. I couldn't reel them in as they were freight training it. Time was up and Chet crossed the line to take the A1 win with Steve in 2nd, Mike in 3rd and Myself in 4th. Not a good start for me and I thought my Triple A Main curse was back (never won any Triple A Main races at Sids).

A2We were off at the tone and 1,2 & 3 got away fast and clean. Minor incidents shooked things up a little bit for 4th on. I managed to pull away a little each lap and checked out for the round to take a much needed A2 win. Chet took an easy 2nd and was looking good point wise for the overall. Justin Williams found his form to take third, Steve Mostacci in 4th and Martin Palenik in 5th (with his new switch to a Losi CR from the RB5).

A3Well it all came down to A3 with 5 of us still mathematically in it for the title (depending on who finished where). Pressure was on! At the tone again, 1, 2 and 3 managed to pull out after some more paint swapping from mid pack. I lead for the first 9 laps with Chet in tow on lap 10 a decent bobble put me over the pipe and allowed Chet to take over the lead. I reeled him back in and I managed to pass him. Then a major brain fade put my car off in the worst spot (I must thank "King" Tony Ayala for running to get my back on track). Visions of choking once again in a triple A Main were running through my head as I drove my ass off to try and get back up to Chet with about 4 laps left. I couldn't get any closer and thought Chet had it in the bag when on the final lap he stacked it into the pipe at the end of the straight! I managed to get by him and hold him off to take A3 and the overall! Mike Grmek managed to reel Justin Williams in to take 3rd by .8 of a second putting Justin in 4th and Steve Mostacci in 5th. It was crazy!

Truck OpenA1Sean Hurley got away clean and took the win wire to wire. Behind him though Jay Lovegrove, Dave Mandl and Anthony Muscato were all over each other for almost the whole race. The battle was crazy. Jay ended up have some electrical gremlins take him out of the running about halfway through. This left Dave and Anthony battling with Dave coming from 5th on the grid to take 2nd, Anthony in 3rd, Richard Calistan in 4th (making his was back from dead last after a first lap crash) and Paul Kryskow in 5th

A2Again Sean Hurley was out in front the whole race and it looked like has was going to wrap it up early even with a second last lap crash that let Anthony to get closer. Then disaster struck on the very last lap with only a few corners to go, Sean crashed and let Anthony slide by to take the A2 victory. The crowd erupted as it really was Seans race to lose. Richard Calistan had all kinds of trouble but managed to take 3rd, Dave Mandl in 4th and Steve Newstead in 5th. Pre race favorite Jay Lovegrove couldn't get his gremlins sorted out and broke about halfway through again.

A3Once again it comes down to A3 with 4 guys still in the hunt for the win! Sean and Richard were duking it out but Sean managed to break away and not crash on the last lap to take the win and the overall title! Steve Newstead drove a great race to take second and Dave Mandl in 3rd and Anthony Muscato in 4th and Ryan King in 5th.

Overall Truck Results

1.Sean Hurley (T.Q.) – XXXT-MF – Sid’s Raceway

2.Anthony Muscato – XXXT-CR – Glenwood R/C

3.David Mandl – T4

4.Richard Calistan – T4

5.Steve Newstead – XXXT-CR

6.Ryan King – T4

7.Paul Kryskow – T4

8.Duane Rosamond – T4

9.John Ha – T4

10.Jay Lovegrove – T4

4wd Open

A1The tone went off and it was a bit of a gong show start with some pile ups happening shifting things around. Gino managed to weave around them to shoot into the lead and with everyone behind him battling for position, he managed to check out and take the win. Behind him Mike and Chet were duking it out with Mike eeking out 2nd over Chet while after getting knocked back to 8th I managed to work my way up into 4th and Corey Whiteman after a rough start landed in 5th.

A2A2 was a little cleaner and Steve lead from wire to wire. Corey again had some trouble and was knocked back leaving Chet, Gino and Mike solidly in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I once again had mid pack fighting trouble and was knocked back to dead last but managed to work back through to take 5th.

A3Once again there was no early title wrap up and I think 3 guys had a shot at the overall. Corey took the early lead and lead for most of the race. Steve, Chet and Gino were all right on his tail and they were freight training it around the track. You could throw a blanket over them all it was that tight! Gino managed to shake them loose and set his sights on Corey. Gino managed to pass Corey with a few laps left and it looked like he was going to take the overall when he then bobbled to let Corey take the win and Chet sneak by to beat him by .4 of a second. Steve would take 4th and Martin in 5th. I broke on the second lap :) So for the overall title, it came down to a tie breaker and Chet Kelsey came out on top, with Gino in 2nd, Steve in 3rd, Corey in 4th, Mike in 5th and myself brining it up the rear in 6th. I just couldn't get up there to mix it up. The pace was fast and clean and that made it hard to pass. You had to just apply pressure and hope for a bobble.

- While the weather started out crappy, it quickly turned into a nice sunny day and the traction was great (a little hard on tires though)- The racing has become so tight out there with everyone getting so fast. The qualifying was really close in times for all the A Mains- Thanks to the racers from out of Province who attended from Quebec and New York- Thanks to Team Orion for sending us some really sweet prizes for the event. Great bunch of guys there and I am glad to be a part of their team.- Thanks to the Fastcats crew for coming out to get dirty. We can't wait for your new outdoor off road track to open up!- Just like in 1812 we sent the Yankee's back home empty...haha...just kidding. The Glenwood guys did just fine.- I have sort of broke my Triple A Main choke fest....barely....I finally took an overall win in 2wd while I wasn't to be found in 4wd.- I will welcome Steve to the choke fest club though. His 4wd was on fire out there and he just couldn't get that second win in the Mains (all in fun buddy!)- I remember why I like to TQ....trying to get up to the lead from 6th on the grid in 4wd is impossible when everyone else is on their game and gunning for the same thing as well.- I managed to hit the only female in the group in the head with a package of Bowtie tires I threw into the crowd from the podium to celebrate my 2wd overall win.- Thanks to Kyosho, Orion and Pro-line (Adrenaline R/C) for helping me with some of the coolest and fasted products out there!- The RCTV guys were here with their RC Heli taking overhead footage with the attached camera. Hopefully we can get that uploaded somewhere- Rogers TV (Local cable) also came out for some coverage. Hopefully my interview will make it onto TV somewhere..haha- Mississauga news (cities newspaper) was also on hand interviewing racers and taking photo's. Pretty cool! (edit: online section here: Mississauga News In Focus)

Mike'isms

- Mike informed me that he got two limes with his club soda at Swiss Chalet after the race. I guess he is now like Norm from Cheers there and gets special treatment. No report on the hot water situation though- Mike's landfill again encroached onto my pit table- Mike's CR is funny in the air

Pictures (videos as soon as they are compressed for the web)Getting the action startedThe HardwareGetting my Oreos set upSome Truck actionKing Tony on his thrown making sure all is well.

The infamous "Landfill"4wd TQ Steve Mostacci's carsRichard Callistan getting ready...that's a nice B4!The Fastcats crew getting some dirt time so they are ready when their new outdoor track opens! Check them out at: www.fastcats.caMy RB5My Lazer ZX5-SP